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Maximilian Sporazo after he became the regent of the Tower. He used it as a way of slipping out of boring meetings. Later, he discovered that it could also be used to open a doorway between realms by way of the umbraverse.”
    â€œUmbraverse?” Sarah asked.
    â€œYeah,” Dwight answered, “there’s the universe and the umbraverse. The umbraverse is a place where wizards and other fools go because the rules that should apply tothings don’t apply there. Obsikar drew on it to send us back in time.”
    â€œUsing something like that seems risky,” Sarah continued.
    Dwight returned to the book. “Yep. And it goes on to say that Sporazo used Shadric magic to make it work—definitely a mixed bag with that—and decided to wrap it in two protective spells to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.”
    â€œLike a curse?” Dirk asked.
    â€œKind of. The first spell makes it so that only one of his blood can remove it from the Tower.” Dwight looked up at Max. “How do you suppose this kid ended up with it?”
    Max shrugged. “Don’t ask me, I never touched any portals.”
    â€œMaybe you did accidentally?” Dirk suggested. “You didn’t use any Portal Potties, did you?”
    â€œI don’t think so.”
    â€œIf Max didn’t remove the portal from the Tower, who did?” Sarah asked.
    Dwight frowned. “Good question.” He turned his attention back to the book. “The other protective spell iskind of interesting . . . it says only one who is mostly good can handle it.”
    â€œSo that means Wayne’s a good guy,” Dirk announced.
    â€œJust because you have good intentions doesn’t mean things can’t go wrong,” Sarah noted.
    â€œYeah, just take a look at the bard character class,” Dirk agreed. “Sure, they were supposed to be all versed in lore and even have special arcane powers and stuff, but having to sing songs while the rest of the party fights is lame, no matter how you slice it.”
    â€œYou said only one who is good could handle it,” Max said, wanting to get the conversation back on track. “Does that mean use it too?”
    Dwight glowered. “I don’t know. Portals are like doors—they’re often much harder to open than to close. My guess is it takes a good deal of magic to get something like the Shadric Portal open.”
    â€œAnd not just that,” Dirk added, “but from a wizard who was good—otherwise they couldn’t even touch it.”
    â€œIt does seem like an effective series of locks,” Sarah said.
    Max thought it over. “So what does it all mean?”
    Dwight closed the book. “It means we need to be very careful.”
    â€œI’m not sure this is a group that knows how to be careful,” a familiar voice called out. Puff the fluff dragon entered the room with a yawn. He’d taken a job as “the world’s ugliest watchdog” and had moved in with Dwight some months ago. Max was actually glad to see the dwarf and former dragon getting along, since the two races had a long history of enmity between them.
    â€œHey, Puff!” Sarah exclaimed. “You look good.”
    â€œThanks,” Puff said. Dwight had hired a dog groomer to weave all of his fluff into dreadlocks, passing him off as a puli. Max had had to look the breed up on the Internet, and he was surprised at how well Puff managed to pull it off.
    â€œJust having the Shadric Portal around you is dangerous,” Puff continued. As a former dragon he was well versed in things of a magical nature. “It’s honed to your blood. It’s possible the Maelshadow is using it to find you.”
    â€œI think you should tell Wayne to return to the Magrus,” Sarah said. “It’s not like we’re going to consider his offer to go back.” Max wasn’t so sure about that, however. He’d been spending a